Electrical Measurement of Insect Feeding - Firmware Team

Piercing-sucking insects (mosquitoes, ticks, aphids, sharpshooters) are vectors for animal and plant diseases that cause immense human suffering and that pose grave agricultural threats.  For instance, the Asian Citrus Psyllid spread a citrus greening disease that has caused billions of dollars of damages to Florida's citrus crops.  Preventing the spread of this diseases requires careful measurements of how insects feed, and one technique to measure this is electropenetography (EPG), where a small voltage is applied to an insect, and the current that passes through the insect during feeding is monitored to observe behavior.

Amplifiers for EPG have typically been bulky, noise-prone, and unsuitable for field use, but recent clinic projects and efforts by my research group have demonstrated modern, small, low-cost, mostly-digital amplifiers that can be used for field work. A software interface is an important part of these amplifiers. Developing these amplifiers further requires work on circuit design, firmware and microcontroller development, and software development.

This URO project is focused on recruiting for firmware and microcontroller development.  There are separate projects for software development and for hardware.  Please only apply to this project if you are interested in developing firmware.  (Though, of course, all three teams communicate closely, and team members learn from one another.)

ESSAY PROMPT

1.  Why are you motivated to join this project? What do you hope to get out of it? (1 short paragraph)

2. How much time can you commit to research this semester? (1 short paragraph)

3. Describe your prior experiences with microcontrollers and firmware development. (3-5 sentences) 

4. Describe a time that you got stuck on a project and then got unstuck.  Be specific about what you did to get yourself unstuck. (1-2 short paragraphs)

Mind the length suggestions above.  It's easier for me to find your main points in a shorter essay.

NOTE: Successful applicants to this project will be recruited to the research group during the fall or spring semester and compensated with academic credit.  Full time, paid summer hires will be recruited from within the research group in the spring.